How Your Hobbies Can Help You Achieve Your Goals
when i was in third grade
i knit my first sweater and it looked
like this
even though it wasn’t even close to
being perfect
it sparked the beginning of my interest
in crafting
from there on my love for the handicraft
accompanied me as i grew older
but it wasn’t until recently that i
really understood how much this skill
had served me
in our school and work-centric lives
we’re not asked about our hobbies much
in fact it almost seems like a bad thing
to be spending time on
activities that we do for fun even at
the dinner table our conversations are
mainly focused on
so how did your day at work go or what
did you do during school today
when we do our hobbies we feel guilty we
feel
stressed thinking about the assignments
waiting to be completed
and sometimes we feel pressured to stop
but when we work we feel right even when
it does
get mentally or physically exhausting
however this outlook can blind us from
the actual purpose that hobbies are
meant to serve
hobbies add balance to and create
dimension in our lives
they teach us virtues that help us
achieve our biggest goals
and they teach us valuable skills that
help us create change in this world
for me that hobby is knitting and i was
able to use the skill of knitting to
create change in the middle east
like i said i grew up knitting in third
grade my teacher had us knit all the
time in class because she said it helped
us develop our brains
that year i also learned several new
knitting patterns for my grandparents
in turkey where my family’s from
knitting is a really common skill so
almost all the girls learn at growing up
i was able to use this humble skill
to connect with my relatives in turkey
and through this shared interest i had a
piece of home to remember
now i’m in high school i still knit
but now i lead a global movement based
on the skill of knitting
now how does that work how does a high
schooler find herself in such a position
and how does she use knitting of all
skills to accomplish that
well it began when i learned about the
syrian refugee crisis
a humanitarian issue that was taking
place in turkey
due to the internal conflicts in syria
millions of citizens were being forced
to move out
many of them fled into neighboring
countries like turkey
lebanon jordan and iraq others
crossed the mediterranean and makeshift
boats risking their lives for a new one
in sweden or germany
over 3.5 million syrians moved into
turkey alone
children mothers students lawyers
mechanics professors
i couldn’t believe it in an effort to
provide support for these refugee
families
i picked up my knitting needles and
favorite yarn
and spent my spare time making little
hats and sweaters
i even got my grandmother mother and
cousin involved and managed to turn them
into knitting machines
in fact i practically turned my entire
household into a knitting factory
but sometime into this endeavor despite
the hours that all of us would spend
knitting together
i realized that we weren’t making much
progress
after all how much could one family of
crafters accomplish
if they were trying to knit for millions
of people
so i opened a website and created a
shipping address
and just posted online letting people
know that we are collecting handmade
items to donate to syrian refugees
and that they could join us in this
mission i called it
woolly wishes because we were sending
our best wishes
in the form of warm comforting handmade
gifts
praying for the welfare of their
families
i didn’t know what to expect and didn’t
really think that others would want to
support
some high school student all the way in
california
but the results shocked me not before
long
i was receiving packages from across the
united states
new york florida pennsylvania nevada
texas
alabama new jersey they all came
flooding in
and then i started receiving
international donations
from countries like canada and australia
i was so surprised and every time we’d
opened up a package that had been
shipped to us
i and whoever i was opening it up with
would not even believe the amount of
effort that people would put in
from the most intricately knitted socks
to the most
precious of toys and to the most
delicate scarves
we received over 1 thousand donations in
less than six months
of course it wasn’t easy especially
early on
many people surrounding me questioned
whether others would actually donate
we were brand new had no connections in
the broader knitting world
and had insignificant statistics on our
work so far
the first couple of months were
extremely slow
in fact we probably only received one or
two packages a month
but i still remember coming home and
opening up those packages
even if it was only one or two with so
much excitement and awe at what people
had created
only later on did the number of incoming
shipments begin to accelerate
just two weeks later i also remember
coming home to my mother
and this time showing her not one but 20
packages
that we had just received as i look back
in retrospect
i realized that throughout this endeavor
knitting didn’t only provide the
basis of the organization but it also
helped me foster the commitment
and dedication that i needed to bring
complete strangers together to
accomplish this big mission
one knitting we’re forced to dedicate
our attention to a single project
if we fail to commit for just one moment
while working on any given project
we may make a mistake that we might not
even realize until rose later
and let me tell you it is not fun having
to go back
seven rows later when you finally notice
that mistake and try to fix that stitch
in addition finishing a single knitting
project can take weeks
sometimes months and although it is
sometimes
easy to get bored of our projects we
have to fight that temptation and push
through
until the finishing line for this reason
concentration and dedication are key to
becoming a successful knitter
and ultimately that’s how this humble
hobby helped me grow wooly wishes onto
an international level
now you don’t have to become the
knitting addict that i’ve become
but it is important to find the hobbies
that interest you
whether it’s reading training for a
marathon or sketching
because what’s beautiful about these
hobbies is that when applied correctly
they have this powerful ability to equip
you with the skills that you need
to achieve your biggest goals in life
thank you